First and only edition of an instruction manual for the compositors of the Portuguese royal printing office on the proper setting of Greek, Hebrew and Arabic type. It was written during the reign of King Pedro III by Custodio José de Oliveira (d. 1812), professor of Greek at the Colégio Real dos Nobres in Lisbon and one of the Directores Litterarios of the Impressão Regia, serving until 1807, for which he wrote the present work. Innocencio calls it "very useful" and the only Portuguese manual on typesetting he knew ("Trabalho mui aproveitavel, para o tempo em que sahiu, e o unico que sobre o assumpto temos até agora escripto orginalmente em portuguez"). Oliveira shows in both the tables and inserts within the text the alphabets and numbers in Greek, Hebrew and Arabic with their roman equivalents. The last four plates (printed on both sides of two leaves) show common ligatures and abbreviations in Greek. The present copy of this very rare work is complete with all plates, the "Prefação aos compositores typograficos" (numbered I-VIII) and the 7-leaf dedication, all bound at the end of the book. An important work on the subject of typesetting and the only work on this topic known in Portuguese.
With the bookplate of Américo Cortez Pinto (1896-1979) on the front wrapper, a Portuguese physician, writer, poet and historian who also wrote some works on the art of printing. Front wrapper partly and back wrapper wholly detached , spine partly gone, wrappers a little frayed, discoloured and slightly stained. Paper edges slightly frayed as it is an untrimmed copy, sometimes with the bolts unopened. Some marginal staining, very minor foxing, but otherwise in fine condition. A very rare work on typesetting and printing. Bigmore & Wyman, A bibliography of printing II, p. 90; Innocencio II, 461; The literature of printing: a catalogue of the library illustrative of the history and art of typography, calcography and lithography of Richard M. Hoe, p. 85; not in Porbase.